The present invention relates to a modular element for making up a ceiling, and to a ceiling made up of an assembly of such elements.
The invention is particularly applicable to making a ceiling for living quarters on ships.
FIGS. 1 and 1A shows a known system for making a ceiling for living quarters on a ship. The ceiling is made up of a plurality of assembled-together modular elements such as metal sheets 1 that are slightly interfitting with open joints 12 being provided between them to enable any of the sheets to be removed individually by moving it transversely in the direction indicated by arrow F.
The sheets 1 are section members whose cross-section (perpendicular to their length) has a bottom web 2 with two vertical side flanges 3 and 4, one of the flanges being extended by an outwardly-extending horizontal top limb 5, and the other flange being extended by an inwardly-extending horizontal top limb 6.
At each of its ends, the sheet is also provided with a vertical flange but each end vertical flange is not provided with a top limb. The sheets have a length (perpendicular to the plane of the figure) of about three meters, and they are supported firstly at their ends by bordering section members to the undersides of which they are fixed by means of screws at 7 in the open joints 12, and secondly by joists 8 distributed over the length of the sheets 1, by means of hooks 9 which are obtained by punching out the bottom of the joist section member, and on which the rear limbs 6 of the sheets 1 hook.
The joists 8 (shown in section in FIG. 1A) are themselves supported by suspension rods 10 fixed to the upper deck 11. That suspension system using joists and suspension rods is necessary because supporting the sheets 1 at their ends only, by means of the bordering section members, is insufficient in view of the flexibility of the sheets, in particular since some of them also support certain accessories such as smoke detectors, light fittings, etc.
An object of the present invention is to simplify assembly, and to reduce the number of parts involved.
To this end, the invention provides a modular element for making up a ceiling, said element being a metal section member whose section on a plane perpendicular to the length of the element has a flat bottom web with two vertical flanges: a front flange and a first rear flange, the front flange being extended by an outwardly-extending front horizontal limb parallel to the web, and the first rear flange being extended by a first frontwardly-extending horizontal rear limb, wherein, beyond a certain margin x from each end of said element, said first rear limb is provided with an extension including at least one second rear vertical flange.
Advantageously, in front of said second rear vertical flange, and extending directly from said first rear limb, said extension includes a hairpin return face, said return face being directly extended by said second rear flange.
In a particular embodiment, said second rear vertical flange is extended by a second rear horizontal limb extending frontwards.
The invention also provides a ceiling made up of modular elements as defined above, assembled together one behind the other, wherein the front limb of each modular element, except for the front limb of the first element, is engaged in part over the first rear limb of the preceding element, so as to leave an empty space between the first rear flange of the preceding element and the front flange of the following element, said first element having its front limb fixed under and against an edge section member associated with a first vertical bulkhead, wherein the last element is a special element whose section has a flat bottom web, a front flange, and a first rear flange, the front flange being extended by a frontwardly-extending front limb, and the first rear flange being extended by a rearwardly-extending rear limb, said rear limb of said last element being fixed under and against an edge section member associated with a second vertical bulkhead parallel to said first bulkhead, and wherein each of the two longitudinal ends of each element is fixed at the front limb under and against a bordering section member associated with a vertical bulkhead disposed perpendicularly to the first bulkhead and to the second bulkhead.